Western coal fields limited looking for new coal bloacks in
other states: Sriprakash Jaiswal

Western Coalfieds
Limited (WCL) is looking at expanding in other states to augment its resources,
Union Minister for Coal, Sriprakash Jaiswal said here today. The
Nagpur-headquartered WCL has limited scope for expansion and hence the
government is exploring ways to expand its base by allocating new coal blocks,
Jaiswal told a press conference here today.

Jaiswal was all praise for WCL saying that despite several odds, it was doing
extremely well and and would meet its target during the current fiscal.

"I have asked the management and trade unions to make all out efforts to
go beyond theier target and achieve more. We are hopeful that WCL does better
than last year," Jaiswal, flanked by Minister of State for Coal Prateek
Patil said.

On non-operation of coal blocks alloted to private parties and necessary
action, Jaiswal said the process of show cause notices have begun and Ministry
was examining why the private parties have not started the work.

On the alleged 'Coalgate' scam, Jaiswal dismissed allegations, saying that the
CBI was investigating it and none will be spared. He said that the allotment of
coal blocks to the private sector was not new but started in 1993 and continued
by successive governments.

(Economic Times)

IRON
ORE

Iron ore giant Sesa
Goa closing steel plants on iron ore shortage

India's largest
exporter of iron ore Sesa Goa is planning to close down its pig iron and
metallurgical coke plants at Amona in Bicholim taluka due to lack of supply of
iron ore from within and outside Goa.

Mr PK Mukherjee MD of Sesa Goa said “Due to lack of transportation of iron ore
within Goa, our stocks at Amona are getting exhausted and closure of the plants
is imminent.”

He said “For the last one year, the supply of iron ore from Karnataka has also
become scarce and very costly due to closure of all mines in Karnataka as per a
court order and stocks getting sold in E auction. Now the stoppage of
transportation of ore from Codli, has hit us very badly. Sesa's plants are
running since 1992 without stopping for a single day.”

The possible closure of the two plants will have implication on Sesa Goa's
power plant which is based on gases from its blast furnace and met coke plant.

Committee of
experts constituted by the Goa government has recommended a cap on extraction
of iron ore in the coastal state to 20 million tonnes to 25 million tonnes which
is almost half the existing exports.

The panel headed by renowned scientist Mr Raghunath Mashelkar in their Goa
Vision 2035 report submitted to the state government yesterday has recommended
the cap on mining should be between 20-25 million tonnes per year, exclusive of
the mining dumps.

Mining dumps are low grade ore rejects which are piled up in the mining leases
and outside it, and now become marketable because of its international demand.

The Goa Golden Jubilee Development Council which was formed last year, has
suggested that the cap should be imposed from 2012-2017, to be reviewed
thereafter, to reduce the ecosystem and social stress in the region due to
mining activity.

The document, which was presented to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar yesterday,
also speaks of appointing the high powered committee on the issue of mining,
comprising experts from various fields, which can advise the government on how
much the cap should be.

He said that "The HPC should advice on the cap after examining evolution
of mining in Goa and identifying the stress that have existed from time to time
due to enhanced mining.”

Goa, India's biggest iron ore exporting state, shipped 43.5 MT ore during the
last fiscal, much less compared to the 54 MT exports in the earlier financial
year. This is mainly because the mining industry is rigged with several
illegalities and irregularities, which has put this trade in a tight spot.

(Steel Guru)

CEMENT

Pak to increase cement exports to India,
reduces export price

India can now get Pakistani cement at
reduced rates as cement manufacturers in that country have decided to decrease
export prices for India by 13 per cent due to appreciation of the dollar
against the rupee.

Pakistani cement manufacturers are keen on
capturing the Indian market despite many hurdles in transportation and the
strict certification norms of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), market
sources said.

Following the fall in the value of the
Pakistani currency, cement manufacturers reduced prices by $9 per tonne and
will be able to export to India at an average price of $60 per tonne as
compared to $69 earlier.

"Pakistan can export over one million
tonnes of cement to India if BIS certification is allowed for 5 years and two
train interchanges per day, besides development of another loop road network
for transhipment at the Wagah border," market sources stressed.